For ultimate performance, high-end servers fitted with Intel’s newest Nehalem-EX processors, such as the Dell PowerEdge R910, are hard to beat.
For many, however, they’re overkill, and a server such as the Gateway GT350 F1 will be far more appropriate for buyers with more modest requirements. It still delivers generous levels of processing power and storage capacity, but at a much more affordable price.
A one-time computer vendor in its own right, Gateway was famous for its hardware and trademark black and white cow-pattern boxes. Times have changed, however, and the fancy boxes are long gone. Gateway is now the business wing of PC giant Acer, and the GT 350 F1 is a good example of one of its tower server models marketed at the medium sized enterprise.
So, what do you get? Well, in common with most tower servers, the GT350 F1 is a pretty bulky piece of kit, needing two of us to lift it out of its packaging. We then tucked it away under a desk, but it can also be rack-mounted, requiring 4U of rack space when deployed this way.
Ours was a base model with a single 720W power supply, but two can be specified and the supplies are hot-swappable to keep the server running should one need to be replaced.
Likewise, there are two hot-swap fans at the back which can usefully be changed without opening up the case. It did, however, take a while to work out how this was done – there’s a definite knack to it and there are still more fans inside which might need changing – but it’s a nice touch.
Not so good were the screws retaining the access cover, which seemed a little strange given the supposedly tool-less design. Still, they can always be removed and discarded and, once the cover was off, we had pretty much unfettered access to what proved to be a very capacious and well laid out interior.
The motherboard takes up much of the space, featuring an Intel 5520 chipset and two sockets to take Intel Xeon 5500 and 5600 series Nehalem processors. The review machine came with just one quad-core Xeon E5506 installed which, although quick, is a relatively uninspiring implementation, clocked at 2.13GHz with 4MB of onboard cache.
In the real world, buyers are more likely to opt for a dual-processor setup and more upmarket CPUs, with a number of dual-, quad- and six-core Xeons to choose from, many with additional Intel Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading support.
This ability to choose processors to suit applications and workloads is becoming increasingly common, and is a welcome innovation. Unfortunately, it’s also something of a black art, and we’d strongly recommend getting expert advice before placing any orders. Added to which, high-end Xeons can add significantly to the price, so be prepared to make compromises if you’re on a fixed budget.
Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/hardware/2268508/gateway-gt350-f1-server-review
